Regarding all the negative comments on SUMMER OF FEAR, it
might be helpful to note that Jeff Parker's first wife, Cat
(to whom the book was dedicated) died of brain cancer during
the writing of the novel. In the book (which I reviewed for
the Washington Post), Parker makes some interesting
connections between serial killers and cancer, implying that
these random murderers are both manifestations of the
anti-Christ. I don't know how Parker found the guts to tackle
the subject matter in SUMMER OF FEAR as his wife was dying.
He deserves some credit for going there, and for exploring
inherent spiritual issues in a genre that tends to ignore
them.
THE GETAWAY: one of the most shocking, inventive endings
(right up there with THE BURGLAR) in hardboiled literature.
But those who call Peckinpah's movie ending a copout should
bear something in mind. In 1972, to have the stone-killer
couple ride happily off into the sunset without paying for
their sins was a very radical conceit. It just didn't happen
in films up until then (even those rebels Bonnie and Clyde,
not to mention The Wild Bunch--heroes to '60s counterculture
audiences--had to buy it in an apocalyptic way). In its own
way, for its own time, Peckinpah's ending was almost as
anarchic as Thompson's.
BLACKBURN: I have to mention that BLACKBURN was brought out
by Gordon Van Gelder, my former editor at St. Martin's Press,
who bought my first novel off the slush pile many years ago.
Gordon was revered amongst writers. If not for him, many
risk-taking, ambitious genre novels would not have been
published in the 90's. No, he's not dead. He's the editor and
publisher of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. But
genre literature definitely took a hit when he left the
business of editing books.
That's it, I guess. I'm leaving the list. Have to go out on
the road for awhile and sell some books. Just wanted to tell
everyone how much I enjoyed it.
Peace, George Pelecanos
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